negative on the dow. "squawk box" begins right now. we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. andrew is out today. we've been watching the u.s. equity futures, and as joe just mentioned, looks like the dow has turned negative. down by 37 points below fair value. s&p futures looktd like they would open up down by two points the nasdaq would be flat this does come after a stronger day for the markets yesterday. the dow was actually up by 140 points it's a gain of just over half a percent. s&p up, and then the nasdaq was up by the same amount wrrn you're going to see that the nikkei was down by about a quarter percentage point

shanghai composite, which suffered mildly, was up .8%. hang seng up by over half a percent, in the early trading that's taking place in europe right now, you'll see that there are red arrows across the board. ftse is down by the least amount of the major averages. down by just under a quarter percentage point i don't understand what's happening with prices. anything goes? >> indicative vote later today, yes. they're not biebding there's going to be a range of options likely six options, but it's down to the speaker to decide how many. >> do you think tlds a chance that they get a jrt on any of those votes? >> that's the complicated thing. therefore, you are looking at one of three options chrks would be no deal on april 12th, which is incredibly unlikely may trying one more time to get her deal through or some kind of significant extension.

>> they said no unless they think it's something that is going to lead to a revote on whether or not they actually leave the european union >> i thought they were not going to leave >> that's what theresa may has said bsh skplo maybe indicate i votes this evening give a very clear flefrps one direction. that would be fabulous if there was consenus, but you still would have to get the e.u. to agree to whatever that consensus is at the moment the other moving factor is that prime minister theresa may will address her back benches tonight after all of these debates and the votes have happened and then the assumption there is because you have seen a couple of key breaks eteers in their party the last

24 hours showing some indication that they're willing to change their position and vote for her deal. >>. >> revenue also coming in below analyst forecasts. we're now down about 2% premarket. there are quite a few other comments to talk about here. revenue 3.87 billion, and that was quite a bit below where the street was indicated let me just give you a couple of these other metrics.

they delivered 8820 homes. >> well positioned to produce strong results throughout a 2019 the basic according to the company -- basic underlying housing market fundamentals of low unemployment, higher wages, low inventory levelsall remain favorable for len ar, which you can see is headed in okay week longer term chart doesn't look nearly as positive as that short-term charge. it's not absolutely horrific

once again, it indicates maybe worries of a slowdown, but it also indicates maybe mortgage rates come back down >> that's what i was thinking. everybody thought if you hadn't refinanced or bought a home at that point, if you hadn't locked in a rate, it was gone and gone forever. here we are. >> remember when rates are going up, people say that spurs -- >> the forward yields think to a pickup you know, results which don't factor in the recent slide on yields >> it's probably the arguing as we were viewing yesterday. there are so many others issues in terms of affordability. prices got expensive and then the taxes. particularly in the salt states. when you can no longer deduct some of the local real estate taxes. >> absolutely. absolutely i think the -- it's key as well which we'll get later from this. k.b. up 2.4 prsz.

kw homes as sales in southern california were hurt by a lower demand from foreign buyers did you say that >> i didn't, because as it was break, that waen the first thing i managed pick up. >> i'm telling you now at least someone told me and -- the company says conditions started improving january and february they expect higher selling prices this quarter.

>> were there any surprises for you, ken >> well, for lennar, the microform year-over-year, they had the cal atlantic acquisition. it's apples and oranges. nothing significant really in year-over-year comparisons it is key really is the very well oeft of increasing new communities and also the net order contracts is the key metr metric for lennar, the key there will be whether the second half of this year will show momentum case is important because the demand is at the low ends or starter homes versus the move up or luxurks kb homes, it's exact that issue that sets the two apart that kb homes has a faster pace of new can communities. even though they had a 15% increase in total average

communities, still their net orders are down year-over-year the bull cases, see controversial thinks there's -- year-over-year, the macrofrom the government and industry is still kind of weak you got to make the bet on quarter-to-quarter things get better >> okay. just reading, you know, we're constantly trying to figure out the bigger picture, and if you were to -- where the company says basic underlying housing market fundamentals, low unemployment, higher wages, do you think we can take out housing markets and just say that -- can we still say that even with it is ten-year breaking under 2.4 that fundamentals of low unemployment and higher wages are still something that is a positive or where is the real angst coming from in your view for the yield kufb right now?

sflo urtds going to to be hard to sustain that in the second half of this year. we're more bearish also, kay shiller is down 4.2% price increase it helps affordability and not a lot. you know, still mortgage rates above 4.2% if it's not going to be a major swing in terms of demand i think it's better for home improvement retailers than pour home builders than in 2019 >> it's interesting. all right. ken, we're going to move on. we got some possible deals >> health insurers and teens

well care shareholders will get $120 a share in cash and 3.38 a share for every share they now hold both those companies rely very heavily on obama care for membership there were a couple of stories that were buffetting the stocks yesterday. welfare shares up 14% after hours yesterday as some reports initially leaked out on this news this morning it's up 285.51 >> shares down by 1% 1.8% they were down by more than 5% yesterday on another bit of news that came out. the trump administration seeking to actually overturn obama care. they're saying that with this deal they would have 22 million

members across all 50 states i don't feel, they would probably need to get bigger. look for something else to do if obama care actually does come under more pressure. >> yesterday it closed >> it looks like it's betting more today at one point yesterday, i mean, i think it closed a day before like 240 it was down $10 on the trump administration news. now he will go, wow, that's the shareholders meeting

>> now today they're, like -- >> mario draghi speaking this morning at a conference in frankfurt. he said a temporary slowdown in the euro zone doesn't mean a serious recession is coming. the ecb downgraded its growth protections early this month from 1.7% to 1.1%. thork draghi gtsd the ecb is short of the mandate it was willing to act if necessary. no real clear development from ten days or so ago the euro is up 0.1% today. a southwest boeing 737 max 8 jet was forced make an emergency landing in florida yet no passengers were on board. the plane was being flown to the california desert for short-term storage. the two pilots reported a performance issue with one of the engines shortly after

take-off the airline said it was not related to the computer system on the max aircraft that has come under scrutiny following the two fatal crashes. the max jet aircraft was grounded indefinitely on march 13th, but the faa allows airlines to conduct passengers to move planes to other airports boeing said it's aware of the issue, and is supporting its customers. >> it wasn't in terms of.

>> it should be grounded i agree. the key point -- >> when i first saw the headline, i thought it was much bigger news than it was. >> and obviously, no passengers on board for flight crew or on board that we're also learning more about the software fix for those 737 max planes it will take boeing engineers with laptops and thumb drives about an hour to upgrade the anti-stall system. that upgrade muck approved by the faa and then by regulators meantime, on capitol hill top aviation safety regulators are set to testify in the first of what is expected to be many haergsz on airline safety. coming up at 8:30 amt. eastern time >> the ten-year getting more negative on the yield. >> what did i read

mark grant had a note yesterday where. >> monday we briefly dipped below 2.4 on the u.s. ten-year, and then yesterday it looked like we settled back again, and today back down to the negative. probably won't help the banks again, which we're able to have a rebound yesterday. >> he is skiing. he is fine it wasn't the weekend snoo he was in really expensive inversion therapy. he was surrounded by people he loved. tough period >> he is with his family surrounded by people he loves. >> yes >> mark grant, back to negative interest rates

sent out this bloomberg story that talks about how the of negative debt expands to $1 billion of the world market. >> potential automaker deal in the works. let's take a look at the biggest premarket winners and losers in the dow. apple leading the way. this isn't just any moving day.

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in a two hour window so you're up and running in no time. show me decorating shows. this is staying connected with xfinity to make moving simple. easy. awesome. stay connected with the best wifi experience and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today. >> the spip-off known as dow incorporated will are replace dow due pontd and the dow jones industrial average the new rearrangement in happen on april 2nd before the market opens tore trading >> renault aiming to restart merger talks the financial times reports after that deal the automaker could set its sights on a bid for fee yacht chrysler none of the three companies are commenting the move would signal a return to the sought by former nissan chief carlos ghosn nissan down a bit.

>> i know those just for people at home. people playing at home you know, a lot of people don't have the closed captioning on. i do now on most -- >> on closing bell >> well, on closing bell closed caption, closing bell >> renault, i think i'm confident i'm right on >> we do an emphasis >> nissan, i'm not sure. >> we americanize everything same thing with, like, adidas. >> i have awant dahhed where i can. amazon, i say. adidas, we had the ceo on to clarify i got it right, and, yeah, i will still get i got -- i got in big trouble the last time i said adidas.

people made fun of me because i said it that way for a while >> how do i say this thing where you know you say it the way i say it >> no, because then it's almost more like it just reflects even worse on me. why is that so hard for you? >> you're mocking him. >> you're mocking me i think if that -- >> three and a half years. >> you no longer say i noticed -- you don't say whilest anymore. you have changed >> i never said whilst whilst >> you used to write thus into your scripts, and you don't anymore. because you would start laughing even before i said it.

you would see it >> i just can't win either way when i go home, then i say let's go and watch the soft guide get completely destroyed then as well >> a man without a home now. >> yeah. >> you always have a home here >> thank you well, you are really making me feel like that >> well, you do. we are the land of misfit toys >> do you have a rubbish over there. >> all right a change in strategy for mcdonald's at the federal, state, or local level. that's according to politico ates big shift in the corporate policy for the nation's biggest fast food chain. mcdonald's says in their words wage increases should be phased in, and that all industries should be treated the same way it's probably a recognition of the fact that the wage increases have come to the restaurants anyway they probably like to spread the pain around so it's not as hard to try and find -- at least it makes them feel like they're on a fair competitive ground.

>> is the average employee at mcdonald's bottom of the federal minimum wage i thought they were already paying -- -- >> look in the states, there are a lot of states that have already addressed this it's probably just easier for them to bring it all up to that same level >> this is a little earl for that >> yeah, it did, didn't it you can't get it anyway, right now if you tried >> 24-hour -- >> breakfast >> breakfast yeah you can get breakfast, but you can't get the fries. >> you know where zbloosh we've waited we have. >> still to come, one new york community -- >> 10:53 >> a measles outbreak. we have the details of that. coming up next

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an extraordinary measure being taken to combat the measles outbreak in one new york committee. kids who have not vaccinated have been banned from gathering in places like shopping malls, restaurants, places of worship, and schools for the next month >> effective at the stroke of midnight tonight, march 27th, anyone who is under 18 years of age and is unvaccinated against the measles will be banned from public places until they receive at least their first shot of

mmr. >> if an unvac sin rated child is found in the public places his or her parent could face a fine or jail time. however, police in rockland county say they have no plans to check vaccination records of people on the street the ban is meant to try and send a very stern message to those who refuse to vaccinate. 153 cases of measles have been diagnosed in the area since last october. it's incredibly contagious it spread very rapidly. . ♪ ♪

>> you're watching quack box live from the nasdaq market site

in times square. >> us equity futures up now down 47 they were up 30 and then down 30 and then down 70 now down 47. at this point 48 the s&p down three nasdaq down is 90. we had a bad day on monday good day on tuesday. we'll see what happens when it's all said and done today. a lot of action in the interest rate sector. down four basis points at one time you can see that our ten-year is below 2.4. anyway >> home builder lennar out with quarterly results. 74 cents per share fell one cent short of estimates

that stock down. 305.39 per share we'll get 120 per share in cash and $3 -- sorry, 3.38 per share. they currently hold both companies rely heavily on the bobd care for membership as can you see, well care up 17%. up about 10% after hours >> both these stocks have gotten rocked around by the trump administration's announcement yesterday that it's going to be paushing the court to overturn obama care entirely because they both rely so heavily on obama care a couple of different stories. >> azar and william barr both

said let's not do this >> don't do the they are only part of the motion for the entire aca supposedly some members -- i don't know if it's true or not because they push back on it, and some members of the administration, supposedly nick mulvaney, and those that moved zbengs william barr who was in the news for other reasons, and the attorney general, and azar >> cnbc out with new survey data with a closer look at economic optimism steve liesman joins us line. he has more on that. steve, good morning. >> becky, thank you very much. a slight dip in optimism from the prior highs of last year really remaining pretty strong levels here. let's take a look at this chart here down to 41% at that lower level for the second quarter track in a row. down off the peaks of last year.

48%. a couple of things worth noting about this chart first of all, you can see much of the trump bump remains. if you going back to the 20% level of those optimistic and now in the future, moefr that is still intact it comes from the fact that republicans are nearly twice as upbeat as the economy under president trump as democrats ever were under obama. republicans also -- democrats also are more upbeat under trump than republicans were under obama. that's how you get there there's economic behind it i want to point out one thing we've noticed persistently here, and that is the gender gaep. 62% of men say the economy is excellent. 40% of women that 22 point differential is among the higher that we've registered we've seen this kind of go up over time. this slight dip in optimism takes a bit of a toll on president trump and his economic approval rating, though it remains above water.

47% of the public approves of economic stewardship 43% disapprove. the same 800 people we asked, we say what about the economy yes, we like them on the economy. what about overall no, it's negative. they make this distinction between his economic stewardship and his overall approval here. let's see wlsh what is next? economic approval. this is what i wanted to show you, becky we tracked this. we said what is this do?

i any people had a lot of other things going on with their attitude towards the president before they began to focus on -- or even make this distinction here you can see, folks, if you were on the radio, what you are looking at is a chart of gdp and a chart of the president's approval rating and beginning in the fourth quarter 2017 they track pretty closely, and this has come down. it's not bad if you think about it, you maintain this 1% to 2% approval rating my take-away there this is you have this dip in confidence, but nothing compared to the dip in confidence you had, for example, in the stock market. say from december 2018 that's a good thing sometimes, bingy, that it's not quite so tied to the stock market people are looking at their wage gains. outlooks are good, and outlooks for housing increases are also good

zbloont even close by the way, it took some time for people to really get a sense -- >> 2006. the worst numbers we have in this tracking, which, by the way, we've done this for over a dozen years now is 2010. that was the worst of it when people hadn't -- and their outlooks for housing 2010 it remained optimistic on the economy while things were employing very badly only later did they get pessimistic about it >> let's bring in a couple of more guests to talk about how confidence affects equity markets. chief market strategist at td ameritrade, and kevin, president and chief investment officer at hennan and walsh asset

management good morning to you both >> we publish our imf, and that measures how people actually trade. i found it very interesting when you looked at your charlts because as i saw the economic confidence, it very much lines up with what our clients do. on your chart is look like february through to the beginning of the fall, economic confidence says was fairly high. when you satisfy our imx, you saw engagement with the market people become more engaged at that time. starting in october and wolf when i talk about this a lot october, now, december, our clients actually drew down their engamement with the market in january.

a lot more on broad-based eff and stocks that pay a higher dividend as people search for yields i think that it's really interesting to see how those lined up >> jay jay, what's your sense of what level cash levels are at for most of the portfolio? >> i would say this. >> that that z that krn you? >> is it a telltale indicator of a forthcoming recession? perhaps. on average that recession alleges starts 20 months thereafter yield curve. i still think there's a lot of up side potential for the u.s. stock market this survey, actually, provides even more freedoms towards that argument consumer confidence leads to consumer spending, and as we know, consumer spending counts for 70% of gdp growth.

that kind of supports the theme of slowing and growing we expect the economy to continue to grow not at the levels we saw last year, but certainly continue to grow we dpp earnings growth to continue to grow not at 20% plus year-over-year earnings growth rate, but continue to growth >> this is supportive of future stock market growth. >> in terms of the biggest factors, do you think it is the fed in yields or still the trade? >> i still think it's tariffs overall. that outweighs everything. you look at days that trfs news, and i know steve -- what i see news come out and there's tariff news at the same time, tariff news always moves the market in a different way. >> i wanted ask you a question about the gender gap do you tee that in investing are women more -- i think there's some data that show women are in general more cautious than men when if comes to -- >> women are more patient than men, and i think they take their time and are in a lot of this is anecdotal. are more -- much more -- here

are my rules, and i'm sticking to my rules, and this is how i invest because of that they tend to be more patient, and men are much more i'm going i think there's perhaps being a man sometimes the men think they know a little better >> men move their bodies to move the men on television. women don't do that. >> i like that analogy >> it's true the behavioral economics that show that men think they're much more consequential in outcomes than women are when it comes to the order flow right now and what you see, are women ending up being with the ability to see that? >> don't have that statistic at hand i do think that overall not that women are more cautious. i think women plan much better what their investments will be when they go in, they're very much here is any plan, and i'm sticking to my plan. men of he are much more reactionary. >> thai. nice to see you. >> coming up, spring selling season for real estate

we're going to tell you how soon you need to get your home on the market to increase your odds of selling, and your selling price. then, later senator ted cruz is going to join us ahead of his committee's hearing today on the grounding of the boeing 737 max. he is going to tell you what the committee hopes to learn about ayun yanitclm.s ai st tedou're watching "squawk box" on cnbc to the coue for just $39.00 ? yup that's what we do. and you guarantee they'll get there? yup that's great! i have two sets. you know ship sticks only ships golf clubs? right? honey are we there yet? umph! ship sticks. that hurt.

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time now for the executive edge, and we'll start with a few real estate tips if you are roog to sell your home, hurry up and ris it next week new data from realtor.com says homes that are listed in the first week of april get 14% more on-line views they're also priced 6% higher than those listed in january. that means an average of $17,000 more for the seller ares your odds, by the way, of attracting a buyer also improve if you are selling a family-friendly home in the spring that's because families with children tend to buy larger more expensive homes before school lets out so that they can move in in the summer months.

reasonings for the decline include the december stock slump. a bigger pool of employees and changes to the tax code that encourage firms to move up bonuses to 2017. there's quite a big factor they did it the year before. >> yeah. they move forward certain parts of it. the other interesting thing is whether this past year even the stock prices were down, they had record profits because of corporate tax change >> when we come back, a new report on china's economy shows signed of growth, but it does come at a cost we talk to the author of that report next. right now, though, as whaed to a

break, the quick check of what's bpg happening in european markets this morning red arrows across the board. cac down by about one-third of a percentable point. it's the biggest dlir.ecne at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your retail business. so that if your customer needs shoes, & he's got wide feet. & with edge-to-edge intelligence you've got near real time inventory updates. & he'll find the same shoes in your store that he found online he'll be one happy, very forgetful wide footed customer. at&t provides edge to edge intelligence. it can do so much for your business, the list goes on and on. that's the power of &. & if your customer also forgets socks! & you could send him a coupon for that item. each day our planet awakens but with opportunity comes risk. and to manage this risk, the world turns to cme group. we help farmers lock in future prices,

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our next guest has surprising new data on the stat of the chinese economy let's welcome leland miller. thanks for being here. you've got some surprising information this time around that maybe the chinese economy is staging a bit of a turnaround did you find >> so a lot of people including

us made parallels to what happened in 2015 and 2016. there's a lot of nervousness what would happen the first quarter of 2019. we saw the opposite. i think the chinese have learned some of their lessons. some good, some bad. but there was unmistaken improvement. one of the reasons people haven't gotten this, they're trying to see how the february data compares to the march we look from a quarter to quarter basis. there was improved atmosphere. >> how much was it because things got so bad in the quarter before if you're looking quarter over quarter, is there a sign in saying, okay, maybe things troughed, but are we talking about a big rebound or not >> it's a good point q4 was worse than people understand you look at a pmi and see a 48 or 49 number what do you make of that it was worse than people understood in q4 however, we also did the on year on year things have improved

considerably we're seeing better investment we're seeing profits and revenue improve. this was broad >> let's talk again about how you gathered this data we have been trained to not trust all the numbers from china as they officially report them how do you go about getting these numbers? >> we survey thousands and thousands and thousands of corporates on the ground acros sectors, regions, private, state, micro, small, medium, large. we asked them, what was your performance this quarter what are you looking at going ahead? how is your hiring what rates are you borrowing at? but we don't use a middle man on this we ask companies themselves what exactly are you seeing and why >> to what extent was the rebound credit driven this quarter? and does it concern you that it was not as pure a rebound as otherwise.

>> it was overwhelmingly credit driven this is china. so every rally is a credit rally. and it's a stimulus based rally. but the thing about this is you look at the data -- >> folks, bring up the full screen, too, for this. >> the borrowing here is the -- it matches the highest level we've seen since the mid-2019 panic when people were worrying about being access to capital. the borrowing is high. the credit cost is high. the firms getting access is unusual. look, in the short-term, this is good the question is how sustainable this is. >> interesting you said this happened specifically in regions with smaller economies we're not talking shanghai and beijing. >> right one of the things that people often do is there are more media and more hedge funds and more foreign companies based in beijing and schehanghai. what is happening in those cities is thought of being china. the larger cities did well, but

not as well as some of the smaller cities and so there's -- but the growth is broad so this is an interesting look at an economy. it's not divided in half as we saw parts of last year. >> whoo is the key thing you're looking at as to if this is sustainable and where are you coming out on gdp this year? >> gdp is the hard question. we try to get away from that, because the chinese are going to nail whatever number they want from a political narrative they said they're going to keep it above 6%. does that mean things are stronger or weaker no, it doesn't look, what we're looking at is always hiring. we're looking at the credit situation, particularly borrowing numbers. those are alarming because they're just so broad and high and everyone's taking a loan right now. that part is not sustainable particularly because credit costs went up. usually when you see this type of broad lending, they cut credit costs here you saw credit costs go up in the bond market

they can't continue that it can happen at the beginning of a rally >> leland, good to see you thank you. still to come, tom reed joins us next to discuss a new nafta agreement. and later we'll talk to the ceo of the research firm that says lyft's ipo could be worse than woap's disappointing debut t years ago. you're watching "squawk box. and saying, "really?" so capital one is building something completely new. capital one cafes. inviting places with people here to help you, not sell you. and savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. because that's how it should be. you can open one from right here or anywhere in 5 minutes. seriously, 5 minutes... this is banking reimagined. what's in your wallet?

the bond market's warning signs? what does it mean for some big ipos coming to market? we'll discuss and find out why one research firm could be the next snap. the president's push ahead of a key vote this summer. congressman tom reed joins us to talk about the president's push and what it offers american workers. and have we reached a well-taxed tipping point may have hit a road block. that story and much more as this hour of "squawk box" begins now. ♪

live from the beating heart of business, new york, this is "squawk box. >> good morning, everybody welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and wilfred frost our u.s. equity futures at under some pressure. dow futures right now down by about 96 points. the nasdaq down by about 15 points it's probably worth pointing out that the treasury market has seen yields come under pressure. we were watching earlier this morning and the 10-year note had been yielding below 2.4% sitting right now at 2.368%. here's what's making headlines at this hour a senate panel will hold a hearing today on airline safety in the wake of the two fatal crashes including boeing 737 max aircraft

yesterday southwest 737 max that had two crew aboard but no passengers had to make an emergency landing because of an engine issue the problem was not related to the issues that have grounded the jets for passenger service coming up next hour, we'll hear more about boeing's problems and airline safety in general with senator ted cruz of texas who will chair that senate hearing today. elon musk now has a court date he'll square off against the s.e.c. on april 4th as they try to hold him in contempt of court for tweets dupont will split into three two companies. the white house hosting republicans tuesday afternoon to talk about the usmca or as we call it the new nafta. kayla tausche joins us with more on that. >> becky, they call the group the usmca working group as the

white house tries to continue to chart the path forward in congress democrats who are reluctant to give president trump a trade victory. on the other side, you have those in environmental positions and tariffs on canada and mexico president trump hosted two dozen republicans from the house of representatives who said they expect the deal to generate growth trying to say whether the white house committed to rolling back the steel and aluminum tariffs in order to get a deal the agreement could run into a familiar foe for this administration and that is the calendar the top republican on the ways and means committee said the white house would send the legislation to the hill when speaker nancy pelosi gives the green light. that is expected in early april which starts the clock of 90 working days for a vote. there will be hearings scheduled on the topic that could get contentious. july 26th is the last working

day before the month-long august break with campaign season in full swing on the other side now, we're told by attendees there were no fireworks in the meeting yesterday and at one point it was going so well, there was a consideration to let the pool into the meeting with cameras. though that plan eventually went away it'll be interesting to hear from congressman reed to hear exactly what happened behind those closed doors >> kayla, thank you very much. joining us right now is one of the members of the usmca whip team who attended the white house meeting. congressman tom reed of new york congressman, thanks for being here >> it's great to be with you >> what can you tell us about what happened behind closed doors? >> we're getting ready to go here on the hill to bring the legislation to the floor of the house and get this deal done and updated for the 21st century we had a great conversation with the president. we're working hand in hand to bring relief to american workers, american manufacturing, as well as farmers across the country. >> you know, when the president had talked about pulling nafta

and not having a replacement in place, it seemed to me that congress was speaking with a pretty united front and both parties were saying that they wanted to see a new deal, that it was important to have that deal there, that something needed to be there but now the more we hear, the more contentious the whole plan sounds what do you think you're facing in terms of trying to get enough people on board to face this >> obviously the gridlock up here on the hill is alive and well what we need to do is put american people first and the american worker first. nancy pelosi is going to have a choice is she going to stand with our american farmers is she going to stand with the american workers, get this deal in place, or are we going to have a situation where you go back and repeal and terminate the nafta agreement and you're going to be looking at a choice there that would be catastrophic not only to our interests here in america, but canada and mexico could not sustain >> rather than getting into deep political divisions on this, what really needs to happen?

where are you counting things when you look at the whip numbers and what has to happen where are the deals that need to be cut and what are the big issues >> i think the biggest issues are on enforcement and then also targeting those members in agricultural districts as well as manufacturing districts where they have the stake holders that are going to speak loud and clear and say, look we need this agreement on the books because we've updated it we made it better for the 21st century. and thank the president for leading on this issue. this has been talked about for years. now is the time for action and those members who say no just because they're concerned about a political vowal minority are going to be held accountable at the election polls. >> you represent cornyn, new york it's a big issue there because of the dairy farmers is it the second biggest dairy farmer coalition in the country? >> absolutely. >> there would be a lot of agricultural districts that would get around this. and detroit and any other place with auto manufacturing. they want to see things passed

where do you think you're going to get the biggest pushback? >> i think the urban settings and those that are beholden to that extreme left agenda that's overtaken washington right now where they don't want to give president trump a victory just for political purposes and that is so wrong we're going to highlight them. we're going o put the sun on them they have to be held accountable to the american worker and american farmer. >> do you think the president judging by what you discussed with him yesterday really would go back to abolishing nafta all together if his deal doesn't pass >> it is a tool in the tool box. we don't want to go down that path but it will be necessary potentially. and that is a tool that is going to be on the table and would be deployed so people in canada and mexico also have to understand that too. we are ready to move and if we don't get an agreement, we're not going back to the status o quo. >> one sticking point is the steel and aluminum tariffs

where does that stand? >> you know, obviously as we get the agreement on the books, that is something we're going to advocate for then you have equal, fair, level trade agenda between all the countries involved but at the end of the day, those tariffs have to be there in order to move the leverage forward, move the opportunities forward to get this to the floor and update the agreement >> is it's your understanding the president would be in favor of taking those tariffs off if the new nafta goes through >> potentially it's all about enforcement too it's all about how are we going to make sure that the quotas and the other provisions are being looked at so the enforcement is in place. >> what sort of enforcement issues are you talking about that's been a huge issue in the trade talks with china i can't recall a lot of issues in the past where there's been as much contention surrounding enforcement when it comes to canada and mexico. >> it's about the issue of

having the enforcement up front opposed to having a situation where you have to litigate it after the damages have been imposed. also these paper tiger type of provisions that are just in paper. but there's no relief to the individual that is hurt in the transaction. immediate enforcement of tariffs. if there's not an action that will relieve the aggressive action >> i would just ask what you think the odds are in terms of being able to get this shepherded through congress. >> i think they're growing >> growing from 50%, growing from 70% >> i can't guarantee anything up here on the hill, but i will give you the estimate that i think is accurate. that not -- 0% of passage is not realistic. something has to give. something has to go forward. so i'm confident we'll be able to get there. >> in terms of other -- oh, sorry. do you have a question >> do you feel the president's

focus is on this at the moment how distracted is he from china with this particular issue >> i think he's definitely focused on this. because the negotiation between mexico and canada set the platform upon provisions negotiating with china and other countries such as japan. things like currency manipulation i was an advocate making sure it's in this agreement so going forward we're negotiating from that gold standard of language that we're able to achieve here. >> and do you think we still need something like a tpp or something like a sort of -- >> no, i think we can do this. take each country one step at a time mexico, canada, here obviously we have the nafta framework to work within but then china negotiations. you got japan, you got the eu. those are the next steps on the road to new trade agenda for america. >> congressman reed, thank you for your time today. >> good to be with you all right.

we have some exciting segments coming up including augusta national golf club getting ready to host its first-ever women's tournament we're going to speak to the president of nbc sports about this historic event and nancy lopez. is she the greatest ever by some measures you would think so. at least for women's golf. 1978 won five straight tournaments. five straight. won her first amateur tournament at 12. >> one research firm said the lyft ipo could be worse than s.n.a. snap what you neeto no rad stight ahead. you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. and you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade which isn't complicated. their tools make trading quicker and simpler.

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revenue also coming in below what the street was anticipating that stock is off 0.4% then there's wells health care which is being bought by a larger health insurance rival centene. you can look at the stock this morning after the news was announced earlier this morning wellcare health is trading up by about 13%. some of these talks had been leaked to the media yesterday. at that point you did see the stock trading up 14% now we have the actual details of the deal. wellcare health trading up, centene down by 6% the other story that's been moving both of these stocks is news that the trump administration would actually be pushing to overturn all of obamacare, all of the affordable care act both of these two companies rely heavily on that. the companies today saying if this merger goes through as they put out it is going to go through. if it goes through, they would have 22 million members in 50

states still to come, augusta national golf club getting ready to host its first-ever women's tournament it will air on nbc and nancy lopez will be commemorating the event with a ceremonial tee shot off the final round. we'll speak to nbc sports president and nancy after the break about what the event means for golf "squawk box" right back. people know aflac... aflac! ...but not what they do. so we're answering their questions. aflac is auto insurance, right? no. uh uh. is it homeowner's insurance? no... uhuhuhuh! is it duck insurance? nope. ahhh! do they pay me money directly when i get sick or injured? yeah. aflac!

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how they serve even the hardest-to-reach customers. cool ♪ an historic event to take place this april augusta national will hold its first-ever women's amateur championship joining us now nbc sports pete

bevacqua and nancy lopez. >> no one was watching closely in 1978 as i was and i remember a lot of your career for ten years. you by far dominated the career than almost anyone for ten years. five straight tournaments, pete. >> impressive. >> in 1978 still a couple -- you had babies and came back stronger than ever which was amazing. >> thank you >> you're welcome. i think it's just -- to have augusta national hosting -- first of all, it's an amateur event. that the returning to augusta and to have it with the -- i already saw how great that was how did this come about? >> this was the idea of augusta national i remember having the conversation with fred last year at the masters when he gave me a bit of a heads up that he had

this idea shortly before he announced it and i think as you said, it's going to be such an unbelievable celebration of golf at augusta national over the course of that weekend and leading into, obviously, the masters tournament but to see the best amateur women in the world compete at augusta national, i was asking nancy before we came out, you know, what would she have thought of this when she was 20, 21 years old at an amateur i think it's a great step for golf an unbelievable move for augusta national and their leadership. and we at nbc sports are just so proud to be part of it >> 2021, i think she was 12 in her first -- >> that's a good point >> there's some young ladies that are unbelievable down in those -- i think 14 or so that have qualified to play in this thing. >> it's amazing the youth movement on the women's side and the men's side is powerful it shows that golf is a sport

you can get invested in at a young age. we need more kids playing the game that's something everybody in the golf space is passionate about. watching jack nicklaus compete with the masters, i remember i think one of the real powerful moments that this april 6 with will have the augusta national women's amateur, all these girls sitting with their fathers, sitting with their mothers, sitting with their friends and seeing really the most beautiful place in the game augusta national hosting these women and these girls and saying, hey. i want to do that. that's a powerful force for golf and i think we're going to see how this will help grow the game for decades and decades to come. >> it's a surreal place. the u.s. open, we go to different venues every year. how does the same course come up big and fresh and produce a great winner it's surreal there's something there. there's something i think

metaphysical some bobby jones looking over -- and on saturday the final round you're going to do what arnie used to do are you nervous yet? >> well, it's going to be lorena and anka and myself. i accepted the invitation to hit that first drive of course i know we're very competitive, so i'm going to work on hitting my drive further than them. >> right gary and jack still do that. you can see it >> but to step on the tee at augusta national, i'm very proud to be able to do this. it's been a place that i think is just so, so special i've been able to go and watch the masters the last seven or eight years. and when you walk out to augusta national, it's like you've gone to heaven. >> you get a little short of breath. >> you do. you get excited. these young amateurs that are getting this opportunity, i kind of put myself in their shoes and say, wow

what would have i done if this opportunity was offered to me? and i think it's just inspiring young people to work on their golf game, to set that as a goal p as a golfer to be able to go to play at augusta and play in this amateur event >> it's nice for you, pete i mean, you've got -- the final round is on saturday and tirico and page who i know from twitter, actually you have the "glee" that cgolf can lead up to this. you can do all the practice rounds >> i was with mike tirico out in phoenix. mike is so invested in this and talking about it so excited to be part of it. and to be there for the inaugural event. i think it's going to be a special day for golf certainly a special day for nbc sports to have mike and all of our golf talent on site showcasing these players. gary koch will be there.

the whole team and as you said, to lead off to showcase really a weekend of amateur golf >> followed by -- >> the best in the world competing for the green jacket >> it is amazing. every year it's weird. sergio or bubba coming with that hook shot. it always produces something that just -- i don't know. it's already in the history books. how long does nbc have the rights to do this? >> we'll take it year by year. like i said, we have a wonderful relationship with augusta national and with chairman ridley and with the drive, chip, and putt we've been there every year on the golf channel since it started. our hope and expectation is to do everything we can, put all of our efforts and talents behind it, showcase it to the world in a manner that is equivalent to what augusta national does year in and year out. hopefully we'll be there for a long, long time. >> nancy, we've talked a little bit about how you need more

young players and you need more people out there it does feel to me like the last couple of years, there's been more excitement. i don't know if that's just my own kids getting into it what do you see? >> well, the lpg and usga have come together for the past ten years now to grow women's golf and it's grown tremendously. the biggest thing is trying to keep these young people interested in golf you have to make it fun. my dad made it fun for me. if we could teach them and inspire them to i want to play this great game and take their best friends out there, i have a granddaughter that's playing my three daughters never played and i hate it. but now if we could get the granddaughter to play, it's great. it's just a special game >> how did your dad make it fun for you? we're trying to figure this out too. >> my dad was so cute. he would get a shag bag and pace off 50 yards and stand there and say try to hit it in here. i'm not going to move too much he was teaching the game, but making it fun.

at age 8, i didn't realize he was teaching me already just to try to hit it in that bucket. >> hit him in the head a bunch >> could be dangerous if you weren't as talented as you >> when you're young, you get to hit your dad he made it fun that way and he was always positive. if i didn't play well, he always gave me a hug. he didn't torture me with why did you do that. i think that's what made it fun. because he helped me to love the game and when -- you're going to fail, but you got to pick yourself up. he was always there to help me do that. that's why he made it fun. he was always laughing when i was with my dad on the course. >> you mentioned all the nbc talent getting behind that it's broader than that tory burch and steph curry as well >> the reaction to this event really around the world and country has been spectacular we were looking at pictures of the trophy that was designed by

tiffany & co. which looks beautiful. the countless girls it will inspire to play this game. again, as we were talking behind stage, golf is such a powerful sport. and it really kind of opens so many doors and i think the expectation of everybody who is so invested in the game of golf is this is just a wonderful celebration of the game amateurs at the highest level competing at one of the most beautiful spots in the world that's a powerful combination. >> they're not lying with the first tee, the things you learn as a young person. because you're out there playing alone. no one's going to see you improve your lie you know and you learn that's not the way it works on saturday, how many holes will be televised for the final round? >> well, we're going to do our best to really show these amateur women play the entire golf course and to show as much

of it as we can. >> augusta doesn't -- normally you don't get to see the holes that's part of the lure of the masters. >> and that's changed a bit. you now see more than you did 10 or 15 years ago. >> right >> but really to show the golf course one of the great special aspects of augusta national is because we grew up watching the masters. people feel as though they know the golf course. even if they've never been on the property and now to see these women competing on the same golf holes we've seen jack nicklaus and arnold palmer and tiger woods and bubba watson, people are going to be in far treat >> how long have you been at the helm now at nbc sports? >> about six months. it's been about six months and it's been a lot of fun >> has someone mentioned the similarities between the audiences of "squawk box" and golf i mean, that the demos are similar. and any cross promotion would probably be good for both? >> absolutely. i'll bring the coffee cup. >> people -- i don't know. it's just the demos are very similar between -- i don't know

any coverage by -- >> premier league soccer rights, too, actually. >> we do we're huge fans of the premier league >> i always bring that up with lazarus every time to where he's god, oh, i get it. haven't covered the ryder cup yet spp that coming back >> the ryder cup is going to be at whistling straits in 2020 then rome 2022 and beth paige in 2024 which will be here before you know it. >> awesome thank you. and i don't know how to ask you if you've shot your age. either you have or it's any day. >> no, i have not shot my age. >> but it won't -- because she could shoot high 50s, i think, right? or i better even go to low 50s >> when i was a pee wee. >> thank you, both we're looking forward to it. are you still good >> i have two new knees and i'm

ready to play golf again yes. >> then you're going to break 70 >> i can still break 70 once in awhile >> which is something -- you >> i love the game >> i always come up with the nine holes, maybe. anyway, augusta national women's amateur will air on nbc from noon to 3:00 p.m. eastern time on saturday, april 6th when we return, the lyft ipo. should you buy the hype? we'll speak to someone who says this looks like snap all over again. and later, is the wealth tax a tipping point? robert frank brings us the latest in the battle over taxing second homes let's take a look at the u.s. equity futures got under a little bit of pressure today off the lows of the morning. but the dow futures indicated down by 70ois. p futures off by five. so are the nasdaq futures. you've been making headlines. smart tech is everywhere. but is that enough?

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ride sharing company lyft is expected to make its public debut later this week. and dom chu who can, you know, stocks, ipos, morning movers, premarket stuff. it's just ask and you shall

receive. >> i'm a jack of all trades and master of none i was curious about your augusta women's national segment i'm not going to give the producers a heart attack about this i'm not going to with dwell on it i'm going into my ipo segment. you can see here that move from the lows that we saw on christmas eve up to now. about a 40% advance. that's one of the reasons the market is feeling a little bit better albeit off depress eed levels if you look at fund raising this year, the volatility in the fourth quarter among other things, the ipo market has been tepid this time around here's the reason why. according to remember sans capital, 2. $1 billion has been raised 15 ipos have priced.

and 35 have filed. 13% decline from the same time last year. that is how the environment is setting up the one item people want to pay attention to is the one we've seen big this year that is levi strauss because it is the market cap for all of the ipos that have priced this year. if you take now why we're looking at these environments because there's a slew of big companies yet to come out and are expected to. lyft like you mentioned. pinterest, uber, airbnb, palantpael peloton, slack maybe casper the mattress company wants to hire bankers. a big ipo pipeline we'll see if they get the environment they want. >> thanks for that many investors also want to know about lyft's valuation and

whether or not it will be a success. triton resource says it could be as bad as snap cofounder rhett wallace joins us now. >> thank you for having me >> what's the main strength and weakness of lyft >> everyone's heard of it. if you're going to try to sell stock tho investors, they have good name recognition already. the trouble is the financials just are not very good to lose a billion dollars on $2 billion of revenue isn't such a great thing. if you want to buy it for fundamentals opposed to the supply and demand dynamics we were just hearing about. it will be a hot deal. unfortunately, we don't think it will perform really well >> let's just emphasize this for anybody listening at home. i'm bothered by the idea that retail investors are going to be the ones left holding the bags can we go back to the full screen that was up i want to emphasize the point the disclosures have been so bad that investors have no way to do

the correct math >> that's true >> how different is that from a traditional ipo? >> it's very similar to snap >> i mean, if you were looking at the average ipo -- >> typically they give you the numbers that you could get comfortable with a company losing a billion dollars might not do that the yex year or the year after these guys have not done that. there have been no ipos since ten krent music in techland. the so the supply and demand dynamics set up well for them. but if you rush to get the shares, you could end up as you say holding the bag. >> price to sales is not attractive >> no. not attractive $23 billion of valuation is a very full valuation for this company. to answer the question that you asked, you know, do you want to own the stock? the question isn't do you want to own it, do you want to own it at this price. >> and if you think you can eow it at a lower price later, you

should do it we have a scoring system the average tech ipo score has been about a 6.3, right? and so snap was a 5.91 which is really low that was very controversial. people loved that name lyft is coming in at a 5.7 >> we also see the lyft and uber similar to a facebook and snap comparison >> very similar. en though lyft is more similar to uber than snap was to facebook in a way. what they both do is they have the same customers snap has to get advertising budgets and they have to get that away from facebook. similarly lyft and uber compete from the same people and uber is much bigger than lyft is. >> in terms of your scoring ratio that you just mentioned, have you had some in the past that you've got wrong? that you've had a low score and they've done well? >> sometimes they're wrong for a little while

but they don't stay wrong. lyft traded -- or snap rather traded very well in the beginning. it looked like it might break the score, but ultimately it reverted >> and what about the ones coming some of the big names? >> pinterest will score -- pinterest is very similar to snap in a lot of ways in terms of the business does think of pinterest as premium snap >> so you're likely to warm to that one >> it will score much better than snap did. >> and on wework we got a glimpse at some of their financials the other day >> that's going to be very tough. to lose $2 billion and $2 billion of revenue is going to be a tough score >> seems there's a bit of a theme here are we later in the tech ipo time frame such that the scores are all lower than they were a couple years ago >> that's interesting. the scores we've seen over the last year are coming in at about

6.03, 6.04 on average versso yes we've seenlower quality companies over the last year >> thanks for joining us the pied-a-terre tax has retale sales reached a tipping point. and later, senator ted cruz holding a hearing ahead of the hearing today. "squawk box" will be right back. - my family and i did a fundraiser walk in honor of my dad,

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welcome back swoeb airline shares are lower in premarket trading they've cut their forecast for available per seat for the grounding of the 737 max grounding. the stock is down around 1%. of course it did have that story late yesterday as well about one of its 737 max planes that had to turn back for an emergency landing albeit based on an issue separate to that linked to the recent crashes >> they say they see 9,400 flight cancellations from mid-february through march 31st. also the 2,800 groundings because of the max 737 max 8 airplanes. meantime, the controversial pied-a-terre tax on second homes

in new york, that proposal is now in jeopardy. robert frank joins us with more on that. what happened, robert? >> sources in albany telling cnbc that the pied-a-terre tax, that would be a second tax on homes in new york valued at more than $5 million is unlikely to pass as it's been proposed the real estate lobby has been fighting hard. it had been too erroneous. this is the big thing. it would have required the city to overhaul its complex system of valuing properties especially co-o co-ops politicians finally understood what it would cause. but brad hoylman tweeting saying the real estate lobbyists who say the rich wouldn't buy apartments with the pied-a-terre tax deserve an oscar for acting.

which is what the head of new york's top broker predicted on "squawk box" just two weeks ago. >> i don't think it's going to happen the way it's laid out now. i think the governor is a smart man and would come to the senses to what it would do to the economy of new york, new york city especially. i think there'll be something. i don't think it'll be as severe and i don't think it'll be an annual payment >> new tax would raise about $300 million a year or less than half of what the pied-a-terre tax would be >> if the tax doesn't come there, it's going to come somewhere else just like in the tax the last time around. >> and noone is talking about cutting the budget >> it's got to come from somewhere. >> if you want to continue to spend it >> exactly >> did they say anything about amazon the other great idea that new york brought us?

any comments on how well they managed that situation >> they have not revisited that decision either. >> we had the guy on, it was like, we want to fix the subways. i'm like, what if you have less money afterwards do you care? >> the $25 billion from amazon probably would have helped. >> that might have helped. >> but do you think the guy -- who are we talking about had that it would be $9 million a year. do you think ken is going to grief that that's not acting though >> 60 apartments >> that's not acting. >> where it would have cut the top apartments by 46% of value so that is significant 46% reduction in value for 25 million-plus apartments. >> can't we have a -- like, a mandatory economics class for anyone that gets elected to public office? that's not part of it now, is it >> no. no but look those on the other side who said this had wide support both publicly and among all the politicians and the real estate

lobby that represents the wealthy killed it. >> that's the other side the wrong side thanks, robert joining us now on whether this is a sign that taxing the wealthy has reached a tipping point -- don't count on. director of economic studies at harvard and cato what do you think of my idea mandatory, i mean, they don't even have to pass. i'm not expecting that but maybe if they just have to sit through -- anyway. pat is also managing editor for talkpoverty.org -- this is our other guest. center for american progress he's the author of "the billionaire boondoggle." uh-oh, pat's going to be mad am i just obnoxious? don't answer that. >> no, i don't think but i think you may be overplaying how hard these taxes are going to get on the rich >> i would never do that

i would never use hyperbole to make a point if you feel ghoood on the front end but it hurts the people you're trying to hurt on the other end, isn't that something splie politicians should take into account? >> sure. if i were in new york, i'd be concerned about how to make it more livable for people on the lower end of the income scale. >> you see what i was saying if you have less money for goods and services when the tax revenues go down which is an experiment we've seen played out again and again in certain high tax areas and states that the amount of money you have to spend on the people you're talking about there actually goes down. you wouldn't do that deliberately, would you? >> no. but i don't think that's what occurs every time we talk about taxing millionaires more, we hear this story they're all going to run away and my reading of the data and i

think it's the correct one, that's not happening there are old folks moving to florida where it is warm and beaches. new york is never going to have that. >> what do you think, jeffrey? >> i guess i'm on your side, joe. i think this wealth tax, the pied-a-terre tax in particular is incred kbli misguided not because it's going to crush the real estate market in new york but instead because wealthy people are going to find a zillion ways to evade it they're going to get the second homes bought in their kids' name or corporation name or whatever. it's not going to collect much revenue and it's just sort of feel good. it's not going to change the situation. it's not going to redistribute it's not going to affect the real estate market at all. >> just to shift gears for a second, pat, the quality of life in long island city was the primary reason that politicians like aoc and a state senator made for not wanting amazon to come there are you happy with the outcome

that the $25 billion in taxes will not be coming to new york at this point? they're taking it elsewhere. does that seem like a favorable outcome to you >> i think overall that did seem like a favorable outcome i think when you're new york city, you don't need to pay amazon to come here. there's so many reasons for an amazon to be in new york i think it was telling amazon did this year-long circus looking for a headquarters, collected hundreds of data on hundreds of cities where did they go? washington, d.c. and new york. there are good reasons to be in new york. >> it's a subsidy to offset the reverse subsidy you pay for living here. i mean, you can say that forever that you don't need to do it but it doesn't change what happened yeah, you don't need to. and you got exactly what you deserve from not needing to do it they're not coming and it's $25 billion less. how was that -- how are you happy about that it's beyond me

>> because you're encouraging a race to the bottom and you just don't have to do it and if every state in the nation got together and said, hey, we're not going to do that stuff you wouldn't have these races to the bottom >> going to deploy a lot of people would you rather be in europe where there's no start-up rich corporations anymore because of all the policies that you're sort of pushing forward here so you can't even succeed? success is a bad thing we want fewer millionaires you think that's better, pat, that we have fewer millionaires. >> that's just an absurd argument >> why why is that absurd >> because amazon has to be somewhere, right and if everyone said we're not giving any tax incentives. >> you want to try >> pat, oun they have things you mentioned the rich aren't going to leave, we don't have full data yet for 2018 basedon what the salt changes have meant for new york but if you look at the real estate markets, it is a tale of

two markets where new york city is declining rapidly and florida is surging and that accelerated dramatically in 2008 to the first quarter. how can you say the tax changes and taxes don't have an effect on where the wealthy that are the most mobile part of our population decide to live? >> well, for one, they're not necessarily the most mobile part of the population. if you look at the data, it's young college grads who are moving more often for economic opportunities. rich folks need their networks they need their connections. if your business is somewhere, you need to be there i don't buy they're the most likely to move and look, florida is florida it's warm. there are lots of retirees you can play a lot of shuffle board. i think people pulling out from new york to florida is cherry picking a bit. >> jeffrey, i know cato does its best, but can you talk more about corporations that have a profit incentive create the

private sector jobs that generate the tax dollars to pay for the government that we all want to help the people that may not be participating why is that so hard to -- that the profit -- we don't want all -- we don't want everyone to break even we only have 15 seconds. but we need you beth back. 15 seconds isn't going to give time to convince pat, i don't think. >> people are right to worry about wealth but government causing much of the bad distribution of wealth >> thank you and let's talk again some time maybe. lots more to come including senator ted cruz obvious. sometimes, they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities.

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a big day for boeing a play maker looking to updeate pilots on fixes to the max ted cruz will lead a key hearing and he joins us this morning zen tee snapping up a smaller rival. both play in the obamacare space which faces a new threat from the white house. and is the gop leaning left? the idea of raising minimum wage

the final hour of "squawk box" begins right now. good morning and welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc i'm joe kernen along with becky quick and wilfred frost. andrew is out. he's doing well. >> on his ski trip. >> he's doing better with everything that's been happening. let's check out the futures. now down about 36 points on the dow. up one on the nasdaq he didn't hurt himself skiing. everything's fine. just psychologically --

>> you're rousing him even when he's not here. >> he hears about it on twitter >> i'm sure. also, we should tell you about deal news. centene is buying smaller rival wellcare health plans. wellcare shareholders will get $120 in cash and 3.38 centene shares for every share they now own. both those companies rely heavily on membership for obamacare which president trump is making another move to get rid of democrats have started using this push by the president as a rally cry for the upcoming election as you saw with share prices, news of this potential deal did start to get out yesterday there were reports surrounding that wellcare shares had been up in the aftermarket yesterday. you see now it's indicated up by 12.5%. centene down by almost 8%. and again, the two issues that

have been moving this centene and wellcare since they both rely so heavily on the affordable care act had both been under pressure on news of the trump administration pushing to overturn the affordable care act. tesla shares defending elon musk's tweeting habit. that musk uses twitter wisely and that it's part of everyday business for many ceos this comes off several high profile tweets have gotten him in trouble whether to hold musk in contempt of court due to a tweet in february forecasting the number of cars tesla would produce in 2019 the latest cnbc all-america survey look at programs typically seen through a partisan lens. but there is reason to believe this will have size across the political spectrum steve liesman joining us with more >> our pollster has a famous

phrase polling isn't interesting until it is. this data i'm about to show you to me is astonishing and eye opening and an important entry in the great national debate over the government versus the free market that's going to be such a big part of this -- >> that's a set up >> well, you tell me if i'm delivering look at this data here we asked about some of the programs that i really thought the democrats were out of their mind for proposing on the campaign trail paid maternity leave, 84%. >> that's paid maternity leave, paid for by the employer not the taxpayer, correct? >> yes but government funding for childcare, 75% government boosting the federal minimum wage, 60%. tuition free state public colleges, 57%. medicare for all -- i got a wow. if i get a wow, i delivered. medicare for all, 54%. universal basic income -- >> that's even 28% >> who was polled here >> 800 americans across the

country all income groups, all races, all regions now, more astonishing to me is the republican support for this. now, we always try different ways to show people the data tell me if this works. we broke this down by party in the next slide here. we looked at who supported what. do we have it? okay now, go to the top paid maternity leave 7 94% democratic going down from government for child care boost k the minimum wage, still a third of republicans go to the next screen and you'll see that republican support drops off. still very strong independent and democratic support for tuition free public colleges and medicare for all universal basic income, even 45%. that's how you get to the 28%. let me move on now how do we pay for all of this? a lot of support for taxing the wealthy. 61% say that wealth grade over

$50 million. 58% for the income tax greater than $15 million and they don't want to eliminate their deductions >> 46% is not half. >> it's just under half for that exactly. now -- >> but here's who opposed it >> 62% i want to have a setup here. this was an ambitious question we asked people on these four topics, should the government be mostly in charge or should the free market be mostly in charge? the way to read this charge is in orange the more people think free market ought to be there. in blue, the more the government ought to be there. when it comes to regulating ceo pay, that's more of a free market issue it's closer to the center line increasing worker pay and compensation, still more of a free market thing. reducing income inequality, then

you get more of a sort of government, little bit of free market then providing health care coverage, that is something that people are more thinking the government should be involved rather than the free market. >> wait a minute so you're -- >> center right country is what that is. >> free things are popular >> free things are popular, yes, sir. >> all right i think i got that and this was the earth shattering -- >> i'll tell you what was earth shattering >> well, i know. but for the people getting it, it's -- >> my bias going into this series of questions and that bias -- >> you have no bias. you have told me that again and again and again. >> we go to pollsters who help us with the analysis i thought the democrats were committing political suicide proposing these things i thought they would be vast opposition across the country. so what this poll tells me, taking the top and the bottom together, this leaning bead on

free market is i think democrats are right to propose these things and trump is equally right to label them socialist >> but there's some republican support. >> and i was going to say, trump himself has been behind some of these issues and his daughter's been behind other ones >> let me respond to wilf. we had this discussion yesterday with our pollsters the politicians haven't really gotten to these issues yet if you think about what parties do, parties give us a framework for thinking about issues. so we don't have to think about all these things individually. republicans haven't really gotten to opposing these other issues in the way they might the democrats haven't really gotten them to promote them in the way they might this is an early entry into this >> and let's start that debate right now. it's going to be continuing for awhile, but the question is who would pay for these policies and what would mthey mean for the

economy? he's now a lecturing and policy and politics we the city university of new york also, genevieve wood is senior adviser and spokesperson with the heritage foundation. let's throw this up. i am a little surprised by steve's poll showing that there's such overwhelming majority for some things maybe like medicare for all and free college not surprised by people wanting paid maternity leave or boosting the minimum wage mcdonald's said they're not going to fight that anymore. what do you think is really happening here >> i'm actually not surprised by these as a results you're right, steve, that parties are designed to try to frame these arguments in a way to take the burden off of them to figure this stuff out on their own. i look back to 2016. if you look at the numbers, particularly here in new york in places where bernie sanders won in the primary, donald trump also won in the generals across the country. what that says to me is that there was a thread of their argument for a very short period of time, system is rigged, the

leads in both parties aren't really supporting you and working for you. and i think a lot of folks bought into that obviously donald trump is president and bernie sanders is doing well on the polls on the democratic side. so whether you're a democrat or republican, there are elements of their argument that a lot of americans actually bought into and -- but there's still a healthy distrust of government which is why i -- >> right so how do you get to the government running these >> so you don't want the government actually running a lot of these things. there is a healthy sort of distrust as i said for whether or not government can actually deliver for you. but they want to see change. >> genevieve, let's try and tackle that question though. a lot of people want these things, but the question remains how do you pay for them? >> well, you're right. i mean, when people say something's free, everyone says great. i'm in for that. but if you think something is expensive now, wait until it's free and the government is handing it ut. i think, look. when people start seeing the details of these plans, that's when you begin to see the plarnty start to go down for example, look at things like

the green new deal that democrats were so high on a couple of weeks ago and just yesterday you couldn't find one member of the u.s. senate to actually stand up and say i'm for it even though we've better than told we only have 12 years on the earth left, you couldn't get anybody once the details started trickling out to say i'm for this that's because a lot of numbers and other things started coming out americans weren't going to agree with >> genevieve, americans want -- i mean, i understand they want free things. but that's offset by wanting freedom. and when they go to the polls when it's all said and done, i've often asked, how does a republican ever get elected again because he or she is not promising all these free things? how does it happen how do aspirational candidates get elected that are talking about private sector solutions and kind of organically living the american dream that way

instead of redistribution? somehow they get elected once in awhile which is shocking to me >> well, i mean, donald trump talked very aspirationally about the american dream and america as a whole and patriotic i think that's one of the reasons he got in and people were so fed up with washington but, look. i think what candidates ought to be talking about is how do we infuse more flexibility into the system not necessarily more free stuff. for example, the house this week is going to take up this equal pay type situation it sounds good, but here's the negative people going to the workplace including many women don't just want more money. in many cases they want more flexibility. but we want to put a size ten on everybody. everybody doesn't wear a size ten. some people want more hours and more money other people want more flexibility. we ought to be encouraging legislation and encouraging employers and businesses to talk to one another about how to work out what each one wants instead

of saying everybody's got to do the same thing because when you do that, everybody ends up losing >> when you get right down to some of these issues, american dos want more. in times of prosperity, you'll see more of these things come about. but it's still a question of how you pay for it even if you tax the wealthy at 100%, you're not going to get enough to pay for these programs >> and i understand that one of the challenges i've had is to disabuse folks of the fact that democrats do care about this too we focus a lot of attention on aoc and i understand why we do that but if you think about even here in new york, there are three members of congress that actually -- democrats that flipped seats. across the country, it's not like you had all of these democrats winning primaries. they flipped seats in republican

districts which means to me there is a lot of moderation >> also i don't have a -- >> and to me, what that says is that we are campaigning on this idea that americans do want more. >> i can tell you that our data shows more of these programs very popular in republican districts. that could create a different political dynamic out there if any of these things ever get to the floor. >> genevieve, to that point, are you surprised by how much support there was in this survey whether or not you think it's the right decision or not, does that surprise you that the election will be fought on different grounds? >> i wish it did, but unfortunately it doesn't i'll tell you one reason why look nobody wants to talk about the deficit or the debt including republicans. as long as the debt doesn't matter, you might as well keep piling on. and frankly, both parties are guilty of -- republicans talk

about it more than democrats, but in general, nobody really talks about the problem of the debt and deficits we're running. now, look. i don't think it's all about money, but it is a big problem if you don't talk about it, most of the public puts that to the side and says let's keep spending >> i'm amazed how much you two actually agree on this >> we make a mistake, i think. part of this is create -- for example, a federal requirement that employers provide paid maternity leave to new mothers there are economic costs to it but that's different, for example, from a tuition-free college which has a definitive cost >> what was the question are you in favor of tuition free college or other people not paying for college if your taxes go up 20%? >> the question is from what you know do you support or oppose the following government programs and the item here is tu wish free college at state and public

colleges paid for by the federal government >> wow should be able to figure out that taxpayers -- >> no, no, no. >> did i ask that wrong? >> no. but they're not seeing their taxes -- they're not connecting the dots >> his was pretty opaque paid for gi the federal government >> doesn't mean you're going to get taxed. >> i teach at cuny cuny used to be free look, there are a lot of parents out there who are out there -- can't take advantage of the american dream >> college tuition is out of control and health care costs are out of control i get that >> americans are feeling that. it's not about party it's not about race. americans at large are feeling the pain i have a niece in london she talked about all of her college choices and it was amazing to me that none of those questions involved a question of which college gives me the most financial aid. that's taken out of the conversation and think about what that does for a student trying to look at

what their options are going to be. >> can i just get genevieve to respond here i want to continue the second half of my question which is things like increasing government funding for childcare. that puts women potentially back in the workforce especially at a time where female labor participation is lower in america than in several developed countries. >> well, look. as i said, i'm all for talking about flexibility in the workplace. but when you mandate a certain policy -- and let's be clear we can say we're going to have employers pay for all this eventually who ends up paying are the individual citizens of the country. >> to pa point, it is you should the family care act. i am allowed to take 12 weeks off. i may not get paid for it. and that costs the employer something too. if they said we want standards at some level. the question is if the standards move up. >> and can we actually afford them again, when you start giving

americans the details on this saying it's going to raise your taxes, drop in percentage goes up then you say let's take money from other programs. then people say you know what? i'm even less in favor again, as the details come out -- >> the devil's in the details. you're right that was a great conversation. thanks, all. >> free stuff. >> you'll get nothing and like it coming up, members of the senate are going to turn their oversight and attention to safety following two crashes of boeing's 737 max jet in less than five months senator ted cruz set to lead the meeting. he'll join us in a few minutes you don't want to miss it. stay tuned see that's funny, i thought you traded options. i'm not really a wall street guy. what's the hesitation?

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couple of housing stocks on the move home builder lennar earned 74 cents a share. that was a penny short of estimates. revenue also missed analyst forecasts. the company delivered fewer in the quarter than expected.

share sell initially but now up almost 2.5%. and kb home swung to a profit in its first quarter. although revenue fell. as sales in southern california were hurt by lower demand from foreign buyers the company, though, says conditions started to improve in january and february and it expects higher selling prices this quarter. the latest weekly mortgage application data was released in the last hour. diana olick has more on what it could mean ahead of the spring selling season this is the big super bowl for selling, right >> reporter: absolutely is, becky. current borrowers and potential home buyers are waking up to this new normal of lower mortgage rates 5.7% from a year earlier that according to the mortgage bankers association and seasonally adjusted report

refies were the leader jumping 8.5% higher than a year ago. we're clearly seeing a turnaround lenders are finally getting more business rates have been dropping particularly last week average rate on the 30 year fixed down to 4.5% from 4.55%. that's from loans with 25% down. applications to buy a home rose for the week also 4% higher than a year ago we're getting a mix on the spring with home prices quite high the average loan size set a new record people with bigger mortgages was more on the buy side, lower rates helped people afford more homes. back to you guys >> all right diana. thanks coming up, the leader of today's key airline safety hearing on capitol hill, ted cruz was one of the first lawmakers to call for a grounding of the boeing 737 max 8 plane. he will join us. stay tuned u' wchg quawk box" on

cnbc

welcome back to "squawk box," everyone the futures this morning have been under pressure. although we've improved through much of the morning. right now down 33 point. and of course this comes after an update for the markets yesterday with the dow up above 140 points >> we're up 0.6% for the week so

far. the yield down just below 3.4% still to come, ted cruz on boeing's 737 max and airline safety more broadly in america that after this break. don't go anywhere.

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welcome become to "squawk box," everybody. futures this morning have been improving. in fact, right now you're going to see that the dow futures are down only by 20 points s&p down by 1.5 points and the nasdaq up by five points this has been tied closely to the treasury market today. i don't know if we have time to look at the 10-year note as the yield came under pressure this morning where that yield dropped significantly below 2.4%, we just hit 2.4% for the 10-year note

you're talking about a significant yield there. we'll talk more at this later. meantime, it is a big day for boeing not only will the plane maker be in focus on capitol hill, they're looking at regulators on the max 737 max planes phil le jebeau joins us with moe >> reporter: a lot happening with the 737s today and this week there will be a software update review session, if you will. a briefing between boeing as well as pilots and regulators. they're also going to show some reporters exactly what the software update for the 737 max will look like once it's finally approved by the faa. later this week, we're also expecting the ethiopian crash report preliminary report this should give us a better cause because of that accident and finally you've got the faa scheduled to begin by the end of this week depending on when boeing turns it over to them, the software update. that certification could get one to two weeks up to a buy saying amidst the

headlines. everything else is timing. costs will be spread out and misdeliveries recovered. that is part of the jefgs to putting boeing to a buy. boeing remains at 52 per month that is the current production rate for the 737 and they still plan on boosting that up to 57 per month by the end of this year depending how well things go in terms of getting the 737 max certified again. as you look at shares of boeing, keep in mind that once boeing turns over the software update this week, it's expected to take one to two weeks before it is certified. even then, it still has other steps to go through before it is going to be certified to return to the air the expectation on that, anywhere from a month to two months depending on how quickly the process moves in washington. guys, back to you. >> all right, phil lebeau. thank you.

the dow's improved though. i was looking at boeing. it's not boeing. but we were down about 70 or 80. now unchanged. later this morning, a committee on aviation will hold its hearing on the grounding of the boeing 737 max joining us now is texas senator ted cruz you know, you're not running for president and we haven't seen you in years, senator. i mean, we still recognize you with that beard though we know who you are. >> and you're welcome to come down to d.c. or texas. i'll join you any morning of the week >> we love having you, senator, of course. good to have a hearing but what about the findings from the black box? wouldn't it be better to know before the hearing >> the hearing today is the first hearing we're holding on this to do what we can to ascertain what happened. 346 people died in two

accidents. the early indications are the causes of those accidents were similar. that it may well have been a malfunctioning angle of attack sensor that caused this new technology on the 737 max, what they call the mcas to adjust the pitch of the plane downward and ultimately dive it into the ground taking 346 souls. we need to know where the investigation stands but another major area of inquiry is the process of certification of the 737 max to begin with there have been multiple reports that boeing itself was deeply involved and embedded in the certification process. and from the committee on aviation in space, we want to know how boeing, how private companies are just involved in the faa certification process, is that process, why didn't that process catch this problem if this was the cause of the accident and what needs to be done, number one, to make sure these planes are safe to fly and number two, to make sure the

oversight in regulatory system is preventing and catching these malfunctions before they occur >> senator, with something as high-tech and complicated as one of these aircraft today, how could you -- the faa possibly try to figure out how to receive it i don't understand how that -- and i'm just wondering is there any -- and i've seen it with ralph nader on. at this point, anywhere you're looking, is there any implied malfeasance from any party in this process in your view? >> there is very potentially malfeasance here we don't know. we're not going to jump to conclusions, but we need to see what the evidence holds. we have right now two planes in a period of five months that according to the satellite data had similar erratic altitude changes. and one of the issues of inquiry also was when this change was made, why was it not better

reflected in the pilot's manuals? why was not not part of the pilot's training imagine for a second you're a pilot on an ethiopian plane. you're flying a jet. you think it's just like the 737 you've flown for years except now the nose starts going down and you don't know why because there wasn't a signal to tell you the system started steering the plane down. on the old 737, you'd pull back the yoke and it would disengage. so these pilots are pulling back the yoke, pulling out the manuals trying to figure out what's going on with this plane. meantime it's going down and down and down. that's not an acceptable outcome. that's not an outcome putting the safety of the flying public first. and yes, the company should be involved it's not the faa's role to be handing it over to the private company. the private company had economic incentives not to require any more training. because that drives up costs

but if you change the system substantially, you got to make sure the pilots are trained adequately to ensure the safety of the flying public >> senator, it's a very good summary of everything we've heard to this state. and good stance, i think, on how you come at this my question is, do you know anything about the new software fix that's supposedly being rolled out that will potentially allow these 787 max 8s to go back in the air? does it have anything to do with what you just described where the pilot tries to pull up on the throttle that it would disengage the system >> so i don't know the details of the software fix. that part of the software fix is it will analyze -- there are two of these angle of attack sensors. it will analyze when you have contradictory data coming from the two. that seems like a positive adjustment end of the day, you've got to have the pilots knowing what's happening with the plane and the

ability to correct it. if the plane is steering down towards the ground and they don't have the ability to fix it, that is a major problem. and so i hope the software fix enables us to fix the problem. but we need to be sure that this plane, that pilots know how to operate it safely. and so i'm going to wait the faa takes its job seriously. i called for grounding these planes before the faa acted and i'm glad the faa did act look, in the state of texas, we have tens of thousands of jobs that depend on airlines. we have millions of americans who get on planes every day. our family gets on planes every day. we need to have the confidence that when you buy a ticket on an airplane and sit down, that your safety is protected. >> this country it seems like you'd have a better chance of being protected. can faa own boeing sign off on every airline and every pilot in every country in the world

we have enough trouble with our federal agencies knowing what they're doing with one another how can we possibly know if ethiopian air brought their pilots up to speed as mandated by boeing's guidelines or faa's guidelines how do we possibly know that >> from the dawn of air fluight there has been a role ensuring planes are safe. and there are legitimate roles i think that's one of them you may well be right that the united states, we've got a greater assurance of safety. that's certainly what aye heard from the leadership of airlines. and i'm sure it's true they have more vigorous pilot training that's one of the things this hearing is going to try to get after. when boeing is selling these planes, where we've seen these accidents so far have been ethiopia and indonesia what training, what manuals are the pilots being given look, boeing is providing that you can't expect a purchaser of a plane to know everything that's new end of the day, it's the seller of the plane who has an

obligation to explain if you change the operating system, you have an obligation to explain that to the pilot who is are going to be flying innocent passengers in that plane >> senator, airbus just won a big order from a couple of chinese airlines are you concerned that boeing is going to suffer lasting damage from this including these hearings >> look, there has long been politics between boeing and airbus and listen, as an american i hope that boeing prospers and thrives and creates lots and lots of jobs here in america but aside from that battle between these two companies, there is a basic obligation. we've had two crashes on the psalm planes within a few months that appear to be caused by very similar malfunctions we need to prevent that. that's the responsibility of government officials we're going to let the marketplace take care of it. i have every faith boeing can

compete well in the marketplace. but we need to keep people safe in the air at the same time. >> i see you voted present yesterday on that new green deal, senator? what does that mean? you afraid to take a stand. >> what happened there >> you know, it really is a remarkable thuning. the vote yesterday was 57 noes, zero yeses and every democrat voted present. not only did i not -- >> he wants to set the record straight >> if there'd been an option of voting hell no, i would have voted that instead of voting no. >> can i >> yeah. >> i just want to -- >> go back to boeing >> as the head of the committee on aviation and space, do you think we're going to land on the moon in the next five years? >> i think we are going to land on the moon whether five years is technologically feasible, that's a question for nasa and the scientists and engineers to determine.

but we have a clear objective to go to the moon and the moon is just a weigh station. congress has passed into law legislation that i authored, bipartisan legislation that makes clear that the long-term objective of nasa is to go to mars, to land, and that the first boot that lands on the red planet will be the boot of an american astronaut it's a way to test the technology to get to mars. i think that's important but i think it's also important that nasa keeps the big picture of going to mars and continuing america's leadership in space that today keep that front and center >> and real quickly, you know, the other -- while we're here, while we have you, how much of the mueller report should be released and do you think that there's anything to criticism from democrats that barr is somehow trump's guy and willing to -- i don't know he's got a long -- mueller has a

long career. i'm starting to hear his character impugned by the people that held him up in such high regard before. do you think barr would consider the administration's wishes first and go against what he thought with his own integrity what do you think? >> look, i've known bill barr for 25 years he has four decades principaled service, he has a commitment to integrity. how much of the report should be releaseed? i think it all should be released the public needs to be able to read that report in its entirety i hope that's the decision of department of justice makes. you're seeing immediately democrats and some in the media pivoting where number one they're no longer concerned about criminality. i did one of the sunday shows with jerry nadler from the house who was saying, you know, crimes are what bob mueller was looking

at the democrats are going to continue attacking the president nonstop for the next two years they intend to impeach him it doesn't matter what the evidence is. it doesn't matter what the crimes are they hate the president. we're going to see these attacks coming >> what about the aca? you've never been a fan. would that be a smart move all of the good news for the administration and then all of a sudden to go back to where you're going to have a target on their back about pre-existing conditions and everything else and the election's coming. is that smart to go back to aca now? with 2020 in sight or what do you think would you have recommended that? >> the devil is in the details and it depends what the administration is trying to do i think there are still millions of texans, millions of americans who are hurting under obamacare that have seen premiums skyrocket. they've gone up over $5,000 a

year i still believe we need to finish the job that means repealing obamacare and replacing it with a system that allows more competition, more choices, and lower premiums so that more families can afford health care. and we can do that while protecting pre-existing conditions now, you're exactly right. there are a lot of pitfalls and perils that if the gop ends up in a bidding war with democrats for who can provide more socialized medicine, i think that would be a very, very bad mistake. i hope we don't have republicans going down that road but if we're expanding choices, expanding competition, and lowering premiums, that's a good road to be going down. >> what do you think >> i just -- i guess i go back to -- can you make that point again? what you were saying just about the prices going up and ties that to what a lack of -- a lack of competition in the field is that what you think happened? >> sure. look, at the end of the day, economics 101.

if you want prices to go down, you want more competition, more options. what obamacare did is it created fewer choices, less competition, less option in a great many counties across this country, there are one or two health care providers in the obamacare market and the consequence of that is people have seen their premiums skyrocket. i hear every day from texans who say i can't afford health insurance under obamacare. and i'll tell you who's really been hammered by that is young people young people have seen their premiums go up hundreds of percent. sometimes thousands of percent that's not right >> younger people forced to carry this and forced to pay in. that was going to be struck down anyway >> actually, that's not right. so the reason young people were paid higher premiums is the way obamacare works is it takes young healthy people and jacks up their premiums to subsidize the sick people. >> that's kind of how insurance works in general

insurance prices were out of control before obamacare came along. >> with respect, that's not how insurance works. insurance works where you don't force people to -- >> right you pay based on your demographics and whether you're likely to get sick. demographics but health care insurance was out of control before obamacare came along. >> that's not insurance. that's taxing and redistributing. >> i will cede that point to you. you're a great debater l let's move on to the other point. >> hold on the young people are typically less wealthy, taking money from -- >> i'm ceding that point to you, let's move to the other point. >> that's the heart of obamacare. >> health insurance was out of control before obamacare came along. how do you fix that? that was under a complete free market >> look there are no doubts that there have been challenges in health insurance for a long time, we want to see health insurance policies that are affordable and portable. one of the major fixes, if you look at the problem of pre-existing conditions -- >> many across state lines.

>> we don't have that. obamacare doesn't give you that. what that means is where a lot of people ran into problems is if you lose your job tomorrow, you don't lose your car insurance or your house insurance or your life insurance. why should you lose your health insurance? you ought to be able to take your health insurance from one job to another job to another job and that solves much of the problem of pre-existing conditions where just like your car insurance, you have it rather than being tied to employment, and it is an accident of history that health insurance comes from employment. >> i want to get to cramer we have ten seconds. real quickly, you were part of that slim narrow field of republicans last time. only 18. now that we have got, you know, i need exponential notation for the democrats. >> i think there are 672 democrats right now. >> in ten seconds, who would you worry about in terms of running that would be formidable and who do you wish would get the nomination. >> i worry about all of them i think what the election is

going to be, all of the energy, all of the passion and the democratic party is on the extreme left to my mind, the top tier is kamala harris, beto o'rourke, bernie sanders and elizabeth warren it is likely one of those four will be the nominee. i think they're all coming from the extreme left and what is dangerous, i think the 2020 general election is a coin flip. it is 50/50 and we could very possibly nominate an avowed socialist. that's dangerous for the country. i'm working hard to prevent it >> you have some austin creep down in texas. what is going to get it together great state of texas what is happening down there >> apparently running against me and losing is something of a launching pad for running for president. >> to get anywhere close to defeating you makes him a giant. good to have you on today. >> always a pleasure. >> hope to see you soon. down to the new york stock exchange jim cramer joins us now. you've -- i've seen you with a beard, i think, right? i think it looks good on a senator. >> i don't know.

i thought it was a good look kind of, you know, let's say more hollywood than texas. i like it. >> what -- >> i like that look. >> you do? jim, we got up 27 cents on the dow. so i -- let's talk about something besides that what -- you got up at, like 2:30 what have you been working on? >> well, i was working on this well care sentene, be able to make -- they do great medicaid work, keep the cost down spread the deals and -- i have to see what dave says. i think that the qualcomm, apple, that lawsuit in san diego. and then this great open forum lawsuit in new york with elon musk in contempt i think that could be just explosive. >> i've tweeted about elon musk. he never answers me. i don't know >> yeah, you got to -- that was

kind of interesting when he was -- i don't know if he was attacking me or being convivial. there is a level of decorum he demonstrated versus other tweets. >> i saw your name was spelled cramer, that's not bad, as long as that's spelled right. >> that's a win. anything that gives you a little publicity. elon was attacking me. i enjoyed that >> i don't know whether bezos' recent publicity is that great. >> that was suboptimal yeah that was suboptimal in that the kind of, like, the picture thing was -- >> yeah. we don't need to -- >> that's never really helped people frankly, my wife is saying, what -- what is the attraction there? i said, listen -- >> as you're aiming it, it is, like, stop don't do -- think about this >> can we talk about health care can we talk about the 2s and 10s please. >> or we can talk about my

lululemon pants. >> 2s and 10s, safer. >> what happened this morning with the ten-year yield? >> and germany. >> go ask aoc. the avowed socialists. >> we will -- should be fun at 9:00 >> we got a country and a half here >> we'll see you in five months. and don't miss an exclusive interview tonight with jim with the ceo of centene learned this morning buying wellcare health plans in a deal valued at more than $17 billion. the interview starts at 6:00 p.m. ete tigasrnonht stay tuned "squawk box" will be right back. -driverless cars... -all ground personnel...

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the countdown to the opening bell is on dom chu is here. good morning >> let's look at fiat chrysler up premarket at this point the automaker could be in an eventual takeover of renault, according to a report from the financial times. it may involve renault restarting merger talks, buying fiat chrysler.

watch those shares certainly on the move there as well shares of sketchers up around 3% on roughly 2,000 shares premarket. the shoe company getting upgraded by analysts at susquehanna to positive from neutral. gaining momentum with sales trends accelerating to the upside then watch what is happening with shares of square up a percent or so. we have the payment services company initiated with coverage over at mccory with an outperform rating and $95 price target those share up by about a percent. i know this is "squawk on the street" is coming up. >> he has no ifb in. he's really all over me about these -- >> they're not yoga pants. >> they're not yoga -- they're dress -- >> last week. >> i know, i know. very comfortable pants they're dress pants. >> they're office paintnts, the

are. as we mentioned, the futures improved throughout the morning. down by 100 points at one moment now indicated up by about ten points s&p futures indicated up by just under a point. the nasdaq up by 7 again everything turned positive thank you for being here today. >> pleasure as always. >> good to see you see you back here tomorrow right now it is time for "squawk on the street. ♪ let's get it started let's get it started in here ♪ ♪ let's get it started good morning, and welcome to "squawk on the street. i'm david faber with jim cramer. we're live from the new york stock exchange carl is off. let's give you a look at futures. we get started with trading half hour from now. right here at the new york stock exchange like to point that out, people don't seem to know we do the show from here it is amazing to me. road map does start though with shares of southwest. they're sliding this morning the airline cutting revenue outlook as a result of the